10 Ways to Burn More Calories During Any Type of Workout Skip to main content

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10 Ways to Burn More Calories During Any Type of Workout

Let’s face it: whether you’re an experienced exerciser or totally new to working out, very few of us have the time to dedicate hours upon hours to our sweat sessions. That’s why it’s important to make every minute count. These proven tips and techniques will turn up your calorie burn during every workout you do, helping you bust through fitness plateaus and melt fat away in less time.

Pump up the jams


Pop in your earbuds, cue up your favorite playlist and get cranking. Listening to music is one of the easiest—and most fun—ways to rev up your calorie burn. When a team of University of Wisconsin researchers asked men and women to perform two 8-minute exercise sessions on a stationary bike, one with music and one in silence, the exercisers increased their average heart rate by 10 beats per minute, worked harder, and burned 7% more calories when they pedaled to tunes.


Pair up with an inspirational partner


Exercising with someone just a little better than you can bring out your calorie-scorching best. In one study, researchers from Kansas State University found that people who exercised with a partner they thought was a little fitter and stronger than they were increased their workout time and intensity by as much as 200%.


Let go of the rails


The more muscles you use, the more calories you burn. That means letting go of the rails on the treadmill and not leaning on the elliptical so your lower body and supporting core muscles have to work harder to keep you upright and in motion.


Put your arms into it


Race-walkers have an adage: As your arms go, your legs follow. If you want to speed up your pace and turn up your burn, pump your arms faster and your feet will follow. You’ll also engage more upper body muscles for another calorie burning bonus. Ditto for your elliptical machine sessions. Research shows that exercisers use more fat-burning oxygen when they get their arms into the action by using the elliptical machines handles than when they churn along with their legs alone.


Find your sweet spot


High intensity interval training (HIIT) may be great for getting a big metabolic bump for your exercise time, but because it’s so hard, many people burn out and don’t do it enough to see results. For a better, consistently higher, calorie burn, you want to hit your “sweet spot,” says Daniel Frankl, PhD, kinesiology professor at California State University, Los Angeles. “That’s the highest submaximal exercise intensity you can tolerate for 30 minutes.” You know you’re there when your breathing is slightly labored, but you can still talk in short sentences.


Wear some weights


Heavier people burn more calories because their bodies have to work harder to keep them in motion. You obviously don’t want to gain weight to burn calories, but you can fake it by wearing a weighted vest or adjustable weight garment like the TITIN Force Shirt System, a compression shirt that lets you slip up to 8 pounds of weight into 14 pockets. Research shows adding weight to your workouts can increase your calorie burn by 7% during moderate walks and more than 13% during step-climbing exercise.


Use the force


Gravity is an unexpected, but effective calorie burner—you have to work exponentially harder to fight its forces when you walk, bike, or run at an incline. Head to the hills: you can burn 50% more calories when you go from pancake-level terrain to a more challenging 6% incline.


Drink some java


Caffeine not only revs your metabolism, but also is a proven performance enhancer. Studies show that the energizing chemical found in coffee reduces your perception of exercise, so hard efforts feel easier and you can go harder, longer and burn more calories.


Cool your jets


Hydrate with icy-cold water for a one-two metabolic calorie burning punch. For one, downing a couple cups of cold water can raise your metabolism by about 5% as your body works to warm the fluid. Also drinking an icy beverage before exercising in the heat can help you feel fresher and crank out longer and harder efforts before fatiguing, so you can easily burn more calories.


Tune in, not out


Texting, watching TV, and flipping through a magazine are good ways to multitask while spinning away on the stationary bike or churning through an elliptical workout, says Frankl. “But they take your attention away your workout so you may not be giving it your best effort,” says Frankl. “Paying attention to your effort—your heart rate, your breathing, the sensation in your muscles—helps you maintain a steady effort so you can burn more calories,” he says.

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The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to contact us. Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN* email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com phone: 915-850-0900 Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*